fit* 

gisc. 


The  Evangelical  Basis 


Membership 


ASSOCIATION  SCHOOL  SERIES 
No.  i. 


By  Mrs.  William  Boyd. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 
INTERNATIONAL  COMMITTEE 
OF 

YOUNG  WOMEN’S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS 


1301-1302  VENETIAN  BUILDING 
34-36  Washington  St.,  Chicago,  III. 

Price  3  cents  per  copy 


THE  EVANGELICAL  BASIS  OF  MEM¬ 
BERSHIP. 


The  “Evangelical  Basis”  or  “Test  of  Mem¬ 
bership”  refers  to  a  clause  in  the  Constitutions 
of  all  Young  Women’s  Christian  Associations 
connected  with  the  International  Association, 
which  provides  that  all  active,  that  is,  voting 
and  office-holding  members,  shall  consist  of 
young  women,  members  in  good  standing  in 
Protestant  Evangelical  Churches. 

Its  use  explained.  While  this  clause  is 
found  in  every  constitution,  it  does  not,  as  many 
have  understood  or  inferred,  debar  any  young 
woman  of  good  moral  character  from  member¬ 
ship  in  or  the  privileges  of  the  Associations.  It 
does  not  “limit"  but  classifies  the  membership 
according  to  its  duties  and  privileges.  The 
non-Christian  young  woman  who  is  reaching 
up  toward  a  broader  and  better  womanhood  is 
just  as  welcome  as  the  Christian  young  woman, 
but  the  Association  has  no  right  to  place  upon 
her  the  responsibilities  for  Christian  duties  in 
which  she  has  no  experience;  hence  it  has 
created  the  Associate  membership  which  grants 
all  the  privileges  of  all  departments  equally  to 


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all,  while  it  places  upon  its  Active  members 
alone,  the  responsible  duties  of  maintaining  the 
true  Christian  character  and  work  of  the  Asso¬ 
ciation.  Nor  does  this  leave  the  Associate 
member  in  a  mere  nominal  relation  to  the  Asso¬ 
ciation;  it  opens  to  her  all  the  advantages  of 
the  physical  department,  gymnasium,  baths, 
lectures,  outing  clubs;  the  social  life  and  fel¬ 
lowships;  the  educational  advantages  of  the 
class  room,  reading  room  and  library,  literary 
and  other  improvement  circles,  lectures,  con¬ 
certs,  entertainments;  all  the  mutual  aids  along 
economic  lines  and  a  welcome  to  the  hours  of 
Bible  study,  prayer  and  song.  All  in  fact  that 
any  member  receives  she  may  enjoy,  but  the 
Association  does  not  require  her  to  give  of  that 
which  she  does  not  possess,  and  does  not  con¬ 
ceal  the  fact  that  it  hopes  by  the  personal  ties 
of  fellowship  and  friendship  formed,  to  lead 
every  Associate  member  into  a  personal  friend¬ 
ship  with  Jesus  Christ. 

Some  reasons  for  holding  to  this  basis. 

Every  organization  which  hopes  to  accomplish 
a  definite  object  must  have  an  Active  member¬ 
ship  that  is  in  sympathy  with  and  willing  to 
work  aggressively  for  that  object.  The  limita¬ 
tions  therefore  put  upon  the  Active  membership 
must  be  determined  by  the  object  of  the  organi¬ 
zation  and  the  character  of  the  work  to  be 
accomplished  by  it. 

The  object  of  this  Association  as  stated  in  the 


Preamble  to  the  constitutions  handed  down  to 
us  by  the  founders  of  the  organization  is  “to 
stimulate  interest  in  Evangelical  religion  among 
young  women,  and  to  improve  their  intellectual, 
social  and  physical  condition  by  means  of  an 
association  of  young  women.”  A  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Association  therefore,  hav¬ 
ing  this  for  its  object,  must  not  only  have  a 
majority  of  young  women,  but  of  Christian, 
evangelical  Christian  young  women,  in  its 
Active  membership,  and  the  responsibility  of 
directing  its  work  so  as  to  accomplish  this  defi¬ 
nite  object  must  rest  upon  them.  It  can  and 
does  at  the  same  time  invite  all  young  women 
to  fellowship,  to  enjoy  the  vast  number  of  privi¬ 
leges,  to  association  with  them  in  an  “Asso¬ 
ciate”  membership  and  still  accomplish  its 
purpose. 

But  who  is  to  decide  what  women  are  evan¬ 
gelical  Christians  and  who  are  not?  Shall  we 
set  up  a  Creed  and  have  a  Committee  of  Exami¬ 
nation  on  the  qualifications  for  membership? 
No,  that  would  be  to  make  us  a  sect  or  indepen¬ 
dent  church,  while  we  are  but  an  arm  of  the 
evangelical  churches,  doing  a  special  work. 
Why  not  let  each  applicant  for  membership 
decide  the  question  for  herself  and  let  the  mere 
fact  of  her  desire  to  join  the  Association  decide 
upon  her  Christian  faith  and  purpose?  In  the 
first  place  the  term  Christian  has  too  many 
interpretations  to  admit  of  this;  an  unbeliever 


6 


may  call  himself  a  Christian  by  reason  of  resi¬ 
dence  in  a  so-called  Christian  country,  in  dis¬ 
tinction  to  a  Mohammedan  or  heathen  land. 
Again,  many  unwilling  to  surrender  the  heart 
to  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  way  to  eternal  salva¬ 
tion,  try  to  satisfy  conscience  by  engaging 
in  charitable  and  philanthropic  work,  such  in 
their  desire  for  activity  wTould  naturally  strive 
for  leadership  and  we  would  soon  have  the 
form  of  the  Christian  organization  without  the 
spirit  thereof. 

The  fact  therefore  that  we  must  have  some 
method  of  discriminating,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  evangelical  character  of  the  work,  and  that 
a  personal  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  Associa¬ 
tion  or  the  applicant  for  membership  would  be 
unsatisfactory,  has  led  the  Association  to  adopt 
the  evangelical  church  membership  of  Active 
members,  as  a  basis  which  conserves  the  high¬ 
est  interests  of  the  w7ork,  in  no  wise  limits  the 
wbde  scope  of  practically  helpful  agencies  along 
the  so  called  secular  lines,  making  these  but  the 
more  efficient,  is  just  to  all  members  alike, 
preserves  the  interdenominational  character  of 
the  Association  and  encourages  loyalty  to  the 
church,  of  which  the  Association  is  a  helpful 
organic  part.  In  joining  a  church,  people  pub¬ 
licly  avow  their  faith  and  doctrines,  the 
majority  of  Christians  in  the  Scriptural  sense  of 
the  term  are  in  the  evangelical  churches,  and 
hence  among  these  the  Association  will  be  most 


7 


likely  to  find  a  majority  of  those  women  who 
are  suited  to  the  work  of  “stimulating  an  inter¬ 
est  in  evangelical  religion  among  young 
women.” 

The  insufficiency  of  other  bases.  Other 
conditions  of  membership  have  been  sug¬ 
gested,  but  each  seems  lacking  in  some  essen¬ 
tial  point.  As  examples  of  these,  first:  “Admit 
all  women  to  equal  membership.”  This  defeats 
not  only  any  definite  Christian  object,  but  any 
object  whatever,  as  there  would  be  as  many 
ideas  of  what  work  ought  to  be  done  as  mem¬ 
bers  in  the  organization.  Even  though  the 
Constitution  outlines  a  plan  of  organization, 
this  could  be  entirely  changed  by  vote  of  a 
majority.  One  Association  organized  on  this 
basis,  while  still  calling  itself  a  Young  Women’s 
Christian  Association,  grew  into  a  school  for 
the  teaching  of  Christian  Science,  and  had  no 
connection  whatever  in  sympathy  or  work  with 
the  Christian  church,  and  did  no  form  of  Asso¬ 
ciation  work. 

Second:  “Admit  to  Active  membership  all 
women  of  good  moral  character.”  This  would 
do  if  the  object  were  given  up  and  the  name 
changed  to  Young  Women’s  Moral  or  Philan¬ 
thropic  Association,  but  contains  no  ground  for 
the  name  Christian,  as  the  majority  of  all  the 
members  may  be  non-Christian.  Again  the  term 
“good  moral  character”  is  not  easily  defined. 
An  unbeliever  in  Christ  may  possess  a  moral 


8 


character,  but  who  would  consider  such  an  one 
a  suitable  leader  in  a  Christian  Association? 

Some  have  suggested  in  connection  with  both 
of  the  above  plans  to  have  the  Constitution  read 
in  this  “broad”  way  and  then  quietly  control 
the  matter  so  that  only  good  Christians  should 
have  office  or  power,  thus  diffusing  a  Christian 
spirit  and  work  while  the  non-Christians  feel 
that  they  are  sharing  equally  in  membership. 
In  the  first  place,  who  is  to  become  responsible 
for  this  matter  of  quiet  control?  May  not  some 
unholy  ambition  thwart  the  ability  to  do  this, 
or  may  not  death  remove  the  leader,  and  then 
what  protection  will  the  Association  have? 
Again  is  it  honest  to  say  that  all  have  equal 
right  in  matters  of  control  and  then  secretly  to 
withhold  that  right?  Is  it  not  quite  doubtful  if 
a  Christian  organization  which  conceals  its 
Christian  principles  and  life  ever  really  wins  a 
soul  to  Christ?  Is  it  not  better  to  make  a  clear, 
kindly  distinction,  and  will  it  not  appear  rea¬ 
sonable  to  all  right-minded  people  that  a  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Association  organized  for 
Christian  work  and  to  be  actuated  by  the  Christ 
spirit,  should  be  directed  by  those  who  belong 
to  Christ’s  body,  the  Church? 

Third:  “Admit  any  Christian  woman  to 

membership.”  This  immediately  involves  us 
in  the  difficulty  noted  above,  of  deciding  who 
are  Christian  women,  if  the  term  Christian  is  to 
have  any  real  significance  at  all.  Again  this, 


9 


with  all  the  preceding  forms,  renders  an  Asso¬ 
ciate  membership  superfluous.  If  only  Chris¬ 
tian  women  are  to  be  admitted,  where  is  the 
field  for  influencing  the  great  body  of  non- 
Christian  young  women  except  by  regarding 
them  as  the  charitable  beneficiaries  of  this 
Christian  membership.  This  leaves  no  place  in 
the  membership  for  the  vast  army  of  indepen¬ 
dent,  aspiring  and  self-respecting  young  women 
who  are  outside  the  pale  of  the  Christian 
church  to  enjoy  the  practical  privileges,  in  fel¬ 
lowship  with  the  Active  members,  and  to  be 
led  up  to  the  Christian  life. 

Fourth:  “Admit  all  to  Active  membership, 
but  require  the  Board  of  Managers  to  be  selected 
from  evangelical  church  members.”  This  plan 
immediately  confirms  the  wisdom  of  the  evan¬ 
gelical  basis,  but  provides  no  way  of  assuring 
its  continued  use.  By  correct  Parliamentary 
usage,  all  the  Active  members  in  an  organiza¬ 
tion  have  equal  right  to  vote  and  office,  in 
many  States  incorporation  could  not  be  obtained 
without  this  provision.  It  is  legally  in  the 
power  of  the  Active  membership  at  any  time  to 
provide  that  any  Active  member,  whether 
church  member  or  not,  may  hold  office.  This 
plan  also  makes  possible  a  non-Christian  Com¬ 
mittee  system,  separating  the  work  into  secular 
and  religious  departments,  instead  of  having 
the  whole  pervaded  by  strong  Christian  influ¬ 
ence  and  spirit. 


IO 


In  regard  to  all  these  suggested  forms,  there 
may  be  no  reason  why  they  would  not  serve  for 
general  charitable  or  philanthropic  organiza¬ 
tions,  but  surety  not  if  the  Association  desires 
through  the  physical,  social,  business  and  edu¬ 
cational  departments  to  reach  up  to  the  highest 
standards  of  Christian  life  and  service.  It  were 
as  reasonable  to  ask  an  unbeliever  to  teach  the 
Bible  in  Sabbath  School  as  to  place  a  woman, 
claiming  no  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ  as  a 
Divine  Saviour,  in  a  position  of  control  in  an 
organization  designed  in  its  ultimate  purpose  to 
lead  young  women  to  faith  in  Christ  and  to 
train  them  for  aggressive  and  Christian  work. 
Were  our  object  less  positively  evangelical,  our 
Active  workers  might  with  some  degree  of  pro¬ 
priety  be  somewhat  less  evangelical. 

The  definition  of  the  term  evangelical. 
After  stating  the  terms  of  Active  membership, 
the  Constitutions  either  in  the  body  or  in  a 
foot-note,  explain  as  follows:  “We  hold  those 
churches  to  be  evangelical,  which,  maintaining 
the  Holy  Scriptures  to  be  the  only  infallible 
rule  of  faith  and  practice,  do  believe  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Only  Begotten  Son  of  the 
Father,  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords, 
in  whom  dwelletli  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily,  and  who  was  made  sin  for  us  though 
knowing  no  sin,  bearing  our  sins  in  His  own 
body  on  the  tree,  as  the  Only  Name  under 


Heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be 
saved  from  everlasting  punishment.” 

The  question  has  arisen,  why  is  this  doctrinal 
definition  necessary?  Because  the  majority  of 
people  considering  this  basis  ask  for  the  definite 
meaning  of  the  term  evangelical.  Were  there 
no  printed  definition  each  worker  would  be  left 
to  a  personal  judgment  in  the  matter  and  the 
basis  might  in  many  centers  have  no  signifi¬ 
cance  whatever,  or  at  least  a  widely  varying 
application.  The  Association  therefore,  believ¬ 
ing  that  some  interpretation  of  this  term  is 
essential  to  any  significant  application,  accepted 
the  wording  which  had  been  used  by  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  in  its  general 
organizations  since  1869.  This  was  worded  for 
them  by  a  Committee  of  representatives  of  the 
different  churches  with  the  late  Dr.  Howard 
Crosby  as  Chairman,  and  does  not  include 
or  exclude  any  churches  by  their  respective 
names,  but  expresses  the  test  clearly  in  Scrip¬ 
tural  language.*  The  fact  that  the  leaders  in 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  after  a  long  experience,  con¬ 
sider  this  clearly  defined  basis  as  one  of  the  vital 
elements  in  their  growth  and  perpetuity,  and 
that  so  far  as  Christian  doctrines  are  concerned 
young  women  do  not  differ  in  their  needs  from 

*In  the  following  passages  note  how  closely  Scripture 
language  has  been  followed:  2  Peter  i.  20,  21;  2  Tim.  iii. 
15-17;  Matt.  iii.  17;  John  iii.  16;  Rev.  xix.  16;  Col  ii.  9; 
2  Cor.  v.  21;  1  Peter  ii.  24;  Acts  iv.  12;  Matt.  xxv.  46. 


12 


young  men,  led  our  workers  to  feel  great  con¬ 
fidence  in  their  advice  to  adopt  this  definition 
as  essential. 

Observations  on  this  definition.  First: 
This  is  a  definition  of  doctrines  found  in  the 
published  faith  of  all  the  evangelical  churches 
and  has  no  references  to  the  beliefs  of  individual 
ministers,  or  members  of  those  churches 

Second:  We  do  not  require  all  Active  mem¬ 
bers  to  avow  their  belief  in  all  these  doctrines 
in  just  the  same  way  other  members  may  hold 
to  them;  we  are  striving  to  make  personal 
judgment  in  the  Association  unnecessary.  We 
cannot  be  responsible  for  the  fact  that  many 
church  members  and  even  some  ministers  do 
not  hold  to  the  doctrines  of  the  churches  to 
which  they  belong,  or  that  others  do  not  seem 
to  know  just  what  doctrines  are  held  by  their 
own  churches,  hence  we  simply  require  that 
our  Active  members  belong  to  churches  which 
hold  to  these  doctrines  as  essential. 

Third:  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  defi¬ 
nition  with  the  one  published  by  the  Evangeli¬ 
cal  Alliance  for  the  United  States,  noting  that 
the  doctrines  emphasized  are  essentially  the 
same.  With  the  Alliance,  too,  we  can  say 
of  our  definition  as  they  do  of  theirs  “it  being 
however  distinctly  declared  that  this  brief  sum¬ 
mary  is  not  to  be  regarded  in  any  formal  or 
ecclesiastic  sense  as  a  creed  or  a  confession,  nor 
the  adoption  of  it  as  an  assumption  of  the  right 


13 


authoritatively  to  define  the  limits  of  Christian 
brotherhood.”  It  is  simply  an  indication  of 
the  class  of  persons  whom  it  is  desirable  to 
embrace  within  the  Association.  Furthermore, 
we  do  not  claim  that  ours  is  the  best  definition 
that  might  be  given,  but  it  is  the  best  one  that 
has  been  presented  to  us  and  thus  far  has  served 
*  every  purpose  of  the  Association. 

Some  questions  which  have  arisen.  Isn't 
this  a  narrow  basis  for  Christian  work?  In  the 
light  of  time  and  the  temporal  benefits  of  the 
Association  alone  it  might  at  first  seem  so,  but 
not  with  the  truth  of  eternal  life  before  the 
worker.  It  is  as  broad  as  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
teachings.  Above  all  the  temporal  and  practical 
aims,  our  object  is  to  fit  as  many  young  women 
as  can  be  reached  to  spend  an  eternity  with 
Him.  “Straight  is  the  gate  and  narrow  is  the 
way  which  leadeth  unto  life,”  Matt  vii.  14. 

Doesn’t  this  exclude  some  good  workers? 
Yes,  fortunately  and  wisely,  it  excludes  from 
Active  membership  all  who  could  not  harmonize 
with  or  consistently  labor  to  advance  the  main 
object  of  the  Association;  but  any  young 
women  who  desires  a  better  womanhood  is 
welcomed  as  an  Associate  member.  It  is  inter¬ 
esting  to  note  that  every  live  Association  has  a 
large  proportion  of  Associate  members. 

In  conclusion  therefore,  let  it  again  be 
emphasized  that  our  choice  of  a  basis  excludes 
no  worthy  young  woman  from  membership  and 


14 


the  enjoyment  of  all  privileges  in  the  Associa¬ 
tion;  it  limits  ns  in  no  form  of  work  for  and  by 
young  women  which  might  be  done  without 
this  basis;  it  assures  us  of  the  confidence  and 
support  of  the  Church  of  which  we  are  a  part; 
it  enables  us  to  rest  assured  that  the  definite 
Christian  character  of  the  work  will  always  be 
maintained;  it  makes  possible  the  highest 
forms  of  aggressive  Christian  effort  and  brings 
definite  results  in  young  women  won  to  the 
Christian  life  and  trained  for  active  Christian 
service.  While  some  good  charitable  and  phil¬ 
anthropic  work  may  be  done  without  it,  we 
believe  that  all  forms  of  physical,  social,  busi¬ 
ness  and  educational  work  will  be  better  done 
if  planned  for  and  controlled  by  Christian 
women  and  especially  if  they  look  up  toward 
and  are  permeated  by  the  spiritual  life. 

In  adopting  this  basis,  we  are  looking  beyond 
time  to  eternity,  from  the  good  to  the  best, 
from  human  effort  to  Divine  power,  and  as  our 
Lord  and  Master  gave  us  example  are  endeavor¬ 
ing  to  minister  to  each  other,  as  members,  in 
every  helpful  way,  but  not  forgetting  that  He 
taught,  “Is  not  the  life  more  than  meat?’’ 
“The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  meat  and 
drink,  but  righteousness,  and  peace  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost.” 


